Hearing Wednesday on $30 million Saratoga racino plan

Working with Saratoga Casino and Raceway and submitting written concerns to the state about the racino’s $30 million expansion are the best and probably only ways for the city to try to gain a say in the project. Challenging the state’s preeminence in reviewing projects that serve state-operated facilities with video-lottery terminals haven’t worked in the past, and likely won’t now.

Those were the messages Saratoga Springs Mayor Joanne Yepsen and City Attorney Sarah Burger delivered at Tuesday’s city council meeting. They spoke ahead of a special council meeting the mayor called for 7 p.m. Wednesday to accept public comment on the racino project. Yepsen said the city will collect opinions on the planned hotel, event center and more, and send a package of paperwork to the New York State Gaming Commission as the agency considers an environmental review application for the project.

“I’ve always believed we should put our resources and energy in things we can control,” Yepsen said at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway want to add a 108-room hotel, pool, spa and fitness center, 137-seat steakhouse and 28-seat coffeehouse, and then a 2,000-seat event center to its property on Jefferson Street. The two-phase project is opposed by much of the downtown business community, which fears the racino’s profits from gaming would allow it to offer better deals on rooms, food, drinks and more. On Tuesday, some opponents of the expansion pressured Yepsen to challenge the state’s lead agency status, or try to at least secure an “involved” status for the city, which would give it jurisdiction, rather than its “interested” status.

Yepsen credited racino representatives for bringing their project plans before the city council and planning board, but she said she continued to be concerned by the project’s design and event space. The convention business should stay exclusive to the Saratoga Springs City Center, Yepsen said. At the same time, she noted the racino’s VLTs generate more than $2 million a year in aid for the city.

A month-long process in which the city council can challenge the state gaming commission’s lead agency status in reviewing the project for environmental impacts ends June 13.

7 Responses

Mayor Yepsen,you acquiesced “control” over a tax revenue source that the city has no authority over when you, as a city official, led the opposition against Saratoga Casino and Raceway’s interest in a Casino in Saratoga county. You now expect SCR to graciously allow you to influence their Racino plans? Saratoga Springs government should have stayed neutral on the Casino and let the citizens speak for themselves. Your strategic planning skills appear to be non-existent.

If the Racino doesn’t want the city to have a say in their plans, then maybe the Racino should dig wells for their water, install a sewer plant for their human waste, set up their own public safety department and public works dept.Get your own zip code too.

They should put this project on hold indefinitely. Once a casino is built in the Capital Region the Racino will turn into a ghost town and you can kiss the harness track goodbye. But all is not lost. With politicians and lobbyists involved in the casino process Saratoga is likely to be offered a chance to change its position.

And the convention center president and staff work for the taxpayers, we spent how much on renovations, what’s the top guys salary at the convention center, build baby build, as for the people who moved here, deal with it

This is just a fallback position for the racino in case they don’t win the casino competition. I bet if they get the casino in East Grennbush they’ll give up on the expansion and just milk the racino for all its worth then eventually close it up. You can’t believe anything these people say. How many times have I heard them say they want to expand but at the same time they threaten layoffs if they don’t get their way. Which is it? Expansion or contraction?

and when the casino does close I’m assuming all the “save Saratoga” people are going to make up the 2 PLUS MILLION DOLLARS the casino gives the city JUST for doing business here-what is it you people don’t understand about that?And I see they published the arrests made at dave Matthews but what they didn’t publish was all the underage drunks and overdoses that were brought to the hospital ALL night long-I’m pretty sure that cost a little bit-does SPAC pick that up?I’ve been to the casino many times and am sure I’ve never seen anything like that.